A: golden transparent body that leaves a large one finger white head and lingers for a good two minutes. There are some fast rising carbonated bubbles. Some foamy spiderwebbed lacing appears and slides down the glass.

S: all about the rice and the sweet corn. A bit of honey comes out.

T: rice and the corn again except its not as sweet as the smell.

M: light to medium, slightly watery, some carbonation felt on the tongue, sessionable

O: I'm glad I can say I've tried something from Africa, but probably won't seek this out again.

Overall / Drinkability: Despite not being much to look, it's still a crisp and refreshing beer. I could easily have another. It's a simple and unassuming beer and it goes quite well with food to wash it down (fish tacos in my case). I suspect it would go quite well with highly spicy African food as well to counter the fire and heavy flavor from that type of food. Glad I tried it.

I really liked the fact that they still re-use the bottles. Not crush, melt and make a new bottle like in the US. I didn't find this a very flavorful beer but what flavor it did have was nice. It is a decent beer for those hot summer nights. I wouldn't bother trying to save a lot of luggage space to bring some back, maybe a bottle or two.

Taste initially holds a light citrusy, taste is quite refreshing. Not much other than thin malt flavours along with the carbonation, hops are fairly understated. A sort of mineral or grainy character towards the end. Drinkable without much body in the way of taste or aftertaste, but certainly better than the big macros. Finish is very dry.

I find the mouthfeel quite light, not excatly watery, slightly crisp.

Good on a hot day. Not offensive and pretty refreshing, but not terribly inspiring.

500 mL bottle from the LCBO; best before January 22 2013. I've sort of wanted to try this for a while simply because I've never had African beer, but by the time I came to it on the shelf I always already had a bunch of other Euro lagers I wanted to try in my basket - and the 3+ dollar price tag was also a slight turnoff. But I am a ticker with an itch, so I was bound to get this eventually.

Pours a familiar pale golden-yellow colour, completely clear and highly effervescent. Good, attractive head, especially for the style - big, puffy and pillowy, and it leaves behind lots of webby lacing on the glass as it gradually dies down over the next minute or two to a thin, even cap that remains for much of the drink. Looks really tasty - but the aroma isn't nearly as enticing, differing little from most of the other examples of this style. It is subdued, grainy, a little sweet, and wholly uninteresting. Decent for the style.

Relatively approachable taste. Lots of bready malts, some grainy sweetness with a bit of an adjunct twang. Given the style, I can't really fault it for that - it's not offputting but it's definitely a bit corny. There is a light brush of grassy hop dryness toward the end of the sip, but the aftertaste is mostly adjunct and malt sweetness. Acceptable balance, enough to maintain the inherent refreshing/crisp quality of the style, and certainly not cloying or unappealing. Light-bodied and watery, with relatively mild carbonation for a pale lager. I might have served this a bit too warm, but it's still enjoyable.

Final Grade: 3.5, a surprisingly solid B. I actually rather like Tusker Lager, and I may just get it again some time. It is a fine example of how even this comparatively bland style of beer can be enjoyable, and even charming in its simplicity when done correctly. No, it's nothing to write home about - but it is still a quality quaff, at least to me. Perfect for the patio.

[Updated April 12 2014]

Another bottle. I've been drinking pale yellow fizzy adjunct lagers for basically a decade now, and as with my original review I still feel Tusker is one of the better examples I've tried. The only issue? It's just too expensive to be worth it. If money were no object then this would be a staple in my summer beer fridge, but until then I probably won't bother frequently.